Sunday Feb 11, 2024
JOHN 14:5-14 JESUS SAID TO HIM, "I AM THE WAY, THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE. NO ONE COMES TO THE FATHER EXCEPT THROUGH ME
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. 7 "If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him." 8 Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us." 9 Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, 'Show us the Father'? 10 "Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. 11 "Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves. 12 ¶ "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. 13 "And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 "If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.
Jesus is the way to God because He is the truth from God and the life from God. He is the truth because He embodies God's supreme revelation (1:18; 5:19; 8:29).John 1:18 No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. He is the life because He contains and imparts divine life. Jesus is not merely One who has shown men the way; He is the way. It is His death, resurrection, and ascension that has made a way for men to spend eternity with God in heaven. He is not merely a way; He is the way. He is the one and only way that God has provided for men to obtain the forgiveness of their sins and the gift of eternal life. Lest anyone miss this point, Jesus says it again, in the plainest of words: “No one comes to the Father except through Me.” To know Jesus is to know the way to the Father, for He is the way. This was an exclusive claim to being the only way to heaven. John 10:9 "I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.
Ac 4:12 "Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."
1Ti 2:5 For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus,
It is only because of Jesus Christ's work on the cross that anyone can enter heaven. Since He has come it is only through faith in the promise of God that His cross work satisfied the Father that anyone experiences regeneration John 1:12; 3:16;
1John 2:2 And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.
- Trust My person
4 "And where I go you know, and the way you know."
Jesus could say that the Eleven knew the way to the place where He was going because He had revealed that faith in Him led to eternal life (3:14-15). This had been a major theme of His teaching throughout His ministry. However, they did not understand Him as they should have (v. 5).
These four verses answered Peter's initial question about where Jesus was going (13:36).
5 Thomas said to Him, "Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?"
14:5 Thomas voiced the disciples' continuing confusion about Jesus' destination. Apparently the “Father’s house” did not clearly identify heaven to them. Without a clear understanding of the final destination they could not be sure of the route there. Thomas' question was a request for an unambiguous explanation of Jesus' and their destination and how He and they would get there.
Jesus has just told His disciples that He is going to “His Father’s house” so that they can be with Him there. He then tells them that “they know the way where He is going” (verse 4). Thomas chooses to differ with His Master. He says, in effect, “Master, we don’t know your destination, so how can we possibly know the way to get there?” But Thomas was wrong. They did know where Jesus was going. They had simply forgotten it, or at least put it out of their minds. Over and over again Jesus had told them that He had come from the Father in heaven, and that He was going to return there: “For I have come down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me” (6:38).
6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
John 1:4, 17; 8:19, 32; 10:9; 11:25; Heb 9:8
This is the sixth of Jesus "I am" claims (cf. 6:48; 8:12; 10:9, 11; 11:25; 15:1).
Jesus was summarizing and connecting many of the revelations about Himself that He had previously given the Eleven.
It is an exclusive place – 1+1 always is two, phone company and dialing the right numbers in the right order, take the right medicine in the right doses at the right time.
Jesus is the way to God because He is the truth from God and the life from God. He is the truth because He embodies God's supreme revelation (1:18; 5:19; 8:29).
Joh 1:18 No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.
He is the life because He contains and imparts divine life (1:4; 5:26; 11:25; cf. 1 John
Christ is “the Way” to the Father—“no man cometh unto the Father but by Me”;
The "way" is slightly more dominant in view of Thomas' question and its position in relation to the "truth" and the "life."
Jesus is not merely One who has shown men the way; He is the way. It is His death, resurrection, and ascension that has made a way for men to spend eternity with God in heaven. He is not merely a way; He is the way. He is the one and only way that God has provided for men to obtain the forgiveness of their sins and the gift of eternal life. Lest anyone miss this point, Jesus says it again, in the plainest of words: “No one comes to the Father except through Me.” To know Jesus is to know the way to the Father, for He is the way.
Jesus was not saying that He was one way to God among many. He was not saying that He pointed the way to God either. He said that no one comes to God the Father but through faith in Himself.
This was an exclusive claim to being the only way to heaven
John 10:9 "I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.
Ac 4:12 "Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."
1Ti 2:5 For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus,
It is only because of Jesus Christ's work on the cross that anyone can enter heaven. Since He has come it is only through faith in the promise of God that His cross work satisfied the Father that anyone experiences regeneration 1:12; 3:16;
1Jo 2:2 And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.
Since He has come, rejection of God's revelation through Him results in eternal damnation (3:36).
"He not only shows people the way (i.e., by revealing it), but he is the way (i.e., he redeems us). In this connection
'The truth' . . . will have saving significance. It will point to Jesus' utter dependability, but also to the saving truth of the gospel.
Jesus is also the truth. He does, of course, teach the truth. His words are truth. But beyond this, He is the truth. He is the “wisdom” of Proverbs chapter 8. All truth has its source in Him, as the Apostle Paul writes: “My goal is that their hearts, having been knit together in love, may be encouraged, and that they may have all the riches of full assurance in their understanding of the knowledge of the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:2-3).
1Peter 1.3-4 He is all the truth that men need for salvation, life, and godliness. This is why Paul restricted his preaching to proclaiming Christ and Christ crucified. The “wisdom” which the false teachers taught was contrary to the truth which is in Jesus. It is this “truth” in Jesus which reveals God to men, which discloses the way to eternal life, which is the basis for sanctification, and which provides the content of the gospel.
1 John 5:20 (ESV) 20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life
Finally, Jesus is the life. We know that He has raised the dead to life. In John’s Gospel, Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, after he had been in the tomb four days! Jesus gives life, but this is because He is the source of life. He is the One who called heaven and earth (and the church) into existence (John 1:1-5; Colossians 1:15-20). To reject Him is to reject life and to choose death (see John 5:21-40; 6:33-63). Because He is the life, His life cannot be taken away from Him. He lays it down, just as He has authority to take it up again (John 10:17-18).
'The life' (see on 1:4) will likewise take its content from the gospel. Jesus is both life and the source of life to believers."
“I am the way, the truth, and the life. Without the way there is no going; without the truth there is no knowing; without the life there is no living. I am the way which thou shouldest pursue; the truth which thou shouldest believe; the life which thou shouldest hope for” (Thomas à Kempis, “Imitation of Christ, iii” 56). [i]
He had already said plainly that He would die and rise again at least three times (cf. Mark 8:31-32; 9:30-32; 10:32-34). Nevertheless the disciples' preconceptions of Messiah's ministry did not allow them to interpret His words literally.
"We should not overlook the faith involved both in the utterance and in the acceptance of those words, spoken as they were on the eve of the crucifixion.’I am the Way,' said one who would shortly hang impotent on a cross. 'I am the Truth,' when the lies of evil people were about to enjoy a spectacular triumph. 'I am the Life,' when within a matter of hours his corpse would be placed in a tomb."
Revelation of A new relationship
Revelation of A new ministry
Revelation of A new promise
7 "If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him."
John 8:19
Rather, had learned to know, through my successive revelations of myself.
Greek construction of from now on speaks of it as it had already been done, it was so certain that the Spirit would come and they would know Him and see Him spiritually that it is spoken of this way
To know Jesus is to know the Father (verse 7). The disciples have not known Jesus fully, but from the time of His glorification they will know Him and the Father. Indeed, Jesus can not only say that they have known the Father, but that they have seen the Father, in Him.
To know by personal experience, Thomas and the rest had not really come to know Jesus, much as they loved him. [ii]
Because they had seen Jesus who is the Son of God, the Image of God, and is God (1:18). Hence God is like Jesus Christ. It is a bold and daring claim to deity. The only understandable idea of God is precisely what Jesus here says. God is like Christ.
8 Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us."
Show us Philip now speaks up, possibly hoping for a theophany (Ex. 33:18 Moses said, “Please show me your glory, certainly not grasping the idea of Jesus just expressed.
9 Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, 'Show us the Father'?
Safest thou (σὺ). Emphatic. Thou who didst say, “We have found him of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write” (1:46). Omit and before how sayest thou.
Joh 12:45; Col 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
Heb 1:3 who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
Col 2:9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily;
2Co 4:4 whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.
Not modalism – Not the Father in creation, Son in salvation, Spirit in regeneration.
10 "Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works.
Joh 5:19; 7:16; 8:28; 10:38; 12:49; 14:20; 17:21, 23
11 "Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.
Joh 5:36; 10:38 Says it twice I am in the Father and the Father in Me
The proof of the union of Jesus and His Father is threefold. They should believe Jesus (a) because of His character (I am in the Father [cf. v. 20] and … the Father is in Me); (b) because His words are the Father’s (The words I say to you are not just My own (cf. 7:16; 12:49-50; 14:24); and (c) because the miracles reveal God’s working through Him (the Father, living in Me … is doing His work… . believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves; cf. 5:36). One of the key elements in John’s Gospel is the stress on the signs as gracious pointers to faith (cf. 5:36; 10:25, 38; 11:47; 12:37; 20:30-31).[iii]
If you do not believe on the authority of my personal statement
Believest thou not? Jesus had a right to expect greater faith from these men than from the blind man (9:35) or Martha (11:27). His words in 14:1 are clearly needed. This oneness with the Father Jesus had already stated (10:38) as shown by his “words” and his “works” Cf. 3:34; 5:19; 6:62.
12 ¶ "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.
Mt 21:21; Mr 16:17; Lu 10:17
Not greater spiritual works in quality, but greater in quantity. Cf. Peter at Pentecost and Paul’s mission tours. “
Peter in one sermon had 3,000 converts
Greater works. Not more remarkable miracles, but referring to the wider work of the apostolic ministry under the dispensation of the Spirit. This work was of a higher nature than mere bodily cures. Godet truthfully says: “That which was done by St. Peter at Pentecost, by St. Paul all over the world that which is effected by an ordinary preacher, a single believer, by bringing the Spirit into the heart, could not be done by Jesus during His sojourn in this world.” Jesus’ personal ministry in the flesh must be a local ministry. Only under the dispensation of the Spirit could it be universal.
Ac 2:43 And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles.
Ac 5:12 And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people; (and they were all with one accord in Solomon's porch. 13 And of the rest dared not join himself to them: but the people magnified them. 14 And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women. 15 Insomuch that they brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them. 16 There came also a multitude out of the cities round about unto Jerusalem, bringing sick folks, and them which were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed every one.
2Co 12:12 Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds.
Ro 15:18 For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ has not accomplished through me, in word and deed, to make the Gentiles obedient-- 19 in mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem and round about to Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ.
Jesus’ personal ministry in the flesh must be a local ministry. Only under the dispensation of the Spirit could it be universal.[iv]
13 "And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
Mt 7:7; 21:22; Mr 11:24; Lu 11:9; Joh 15:7,16; 16:23-24; Jas 1:5; 1Jo 3:22; 5:14
In my name. The first occurrence of the phrase. See on Matt. 28:19. Prayer is made in the name of Jesus, “if this name, Jesus Christ, the prayer in Christ’s name must be consistent with Christ’s character,
Was Jesus saying that we have unlimited power over God in determining what He will or will not do for us if we simply pray in Jesus’ name? Clearly not, for this would be out of accord with the rest of the scriptural witness. God is sovereign overall and subject to none. We are to pray in accordance with the will of God as exhibited in the life and teaching of Jesus. When we pray in that manner, surely it will be answered. To pray in Jesus’ name is to pray in accord with Jesus’ will and mission. Such a prayer request is far different from an idea of prayer as some type of shopping list handed to God that He is then bound to perform. Yet the enormous spiritual power that courses through the spiritual veins of the believer should not be underestimated in light of our involvement with the growing kingdom of God. The Holy Spirit empowers believers to do and to be all that Christ would have us to do and to be.
14 "If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.
15 ¶ "If you love Me, keep My commandments. Joh 14:21, 23; 15:10, 14; 1Jo 5:3
V 15-17 Packed into that paragraph are six remarkable facts centering about the person of this other Counselor: First, we learn that he will be a gift from the Father to true believers. I put it that way because our Lord identifies loving obedience as the mark of a true believer. A true believer is one who has been drawn to Christ by love and is ready to obey what he says.
The second thing Jesus says is that this Spirit will be "another," a separate but similar Person to himself.
The third fact Jesus announces is that the Spirit will be a continually abiding presence: He will be "with you forever." That means that the Spirit only comes once into our lives. He does not come again and again. He comes to abide, to dwell with us.
The fourth fact is that the Spirit will be a revealer of truth.
The fifth thing, Jesus says, is that this remarkable new resource is unavailable to the world. "The world cannot receive him because it neither sees him or knows him."
The sixth fact Jesus discloses is that this will be a resource that is available from within. "You know him," he says to these disciples, "for he dwells with you, and will be in you."
There is only one test of love that is valid and that is the test of obedience.
This connection seems designed to teach that the proper temple for the indwelling Spirit of Jesus is a heart filled with that love to Him which lives actively for Him, and so this was the fitting preparation for the promised gift.[v]
Jesus is the way to God because He is the truth from God and the life from God. He is the truth because He embodies God's supreme revelation (1:18; 5:19; 8:29).John 1:18 No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. He is the life because He contains and imparts divine life. Jesus is not merely One who has shown men the way; He is the way. It is His death, resurrection, and ascension that has made a way for men to spend eternity with God in heaven. He is not merely a way; He is the way. He is the one and only way that God has provided for men to obtain the forgiveness of their sins and the gift of eternal life. Lest anyone miss this point, Jesus says it again, in the plainest of words: “No one comes to the Father except through Me.” To know Jesus is to know the way to the Father, for He is the way. This was an exclusive claim to being the only way to heaven. John 10:9 "I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Have you trusted Him as your Savior? He can Save you if You ask Him based on His death, burial, and resurrection for your sins. Believe in Him for forgiveness of your sins today.
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“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” -John 8:32
The world is trying to solve earthly problems that can only be solved with heavenly solutions.
[i] Vincent, M. R. (2002). Word studies in the New Testament (Jn 14:6). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
[ii] Robertson, A. (1997). Word Pictures in the New Testament (Jn 14:7). Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems.
[iii] Walvoord, J. F., Zuck, R. B., & Dallas Theological Seminary. (1983-). The Bible knowledge commentary : An exposition of the scriptures (Jn 14:10–11). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[iv] Vincent, M. R. (2002). Word studies in the New Testament (Jn 14:12). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
[v] Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., Fausset, A. R., Brown, D., & Brown, D. (1997). A commentary, critical and explanatory, on the Old and New Testaments (Jn 14:15). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
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